BEFORE THE
PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION
Joint Petition of Verizon Pennsylvania LLC and :
Verizon North LLC for Competitive Classification : P-2014-2446303
Of All Retail Services In Certain Geographic Areas, : P-2014-2446304
And For A Waiver Of Regulations For Competitive :
Services :
BRIEFING ORDER
On October 6, 2014, Verizon Pennsylvania LLC and Verizon North LLC (collectively referred to as Verizon or “the Companies”) filed with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission separate Petitions pursuant to Section 3016(a) of the Public Utility Code seeking to declare as competitive all protected or noncompetitive retail services offered by Verizon within their Philadelphia, Erie, Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Allentown and York service regions. The Petitions also requested waivers of Commission regulations for competitive services. Pursuant to Section 5.14 of the Commission’s regulations, notice of the filings was published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on October 11, 2014 establishing a ten (10) day period for submitting formal Protests. On October 6, 2014, the Commission assigned the filings to the Office of Administrative Law Judge for an expedited process resulting in a certification of the record to the full Commission after the submission of main and reply briefs.
On October 9, 2014, the Commission issued a Prehearing Conference Notice establishing an Initial Prehearing Conference for this case for Thursday, October 23, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. in Hearing Room 1 of the Commonwealth Keystone Building in Harrisburg and assigning me as the Presiding Officer. A Prehearing Conference Order dated October 9, 2014 was issued setting forth various procedural issues that would govern the Initial Prehearing Conference.
On October 17, 2014, the Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) filed a Protest and Public Statement. On October 20, 2014, AT&T Corp. and Teleport Communications America, LLC (collectively “AT&T”) filed a Petition to Intervene, the Coalition for Affordable Utility Services and Energy Efficiency in Pennsylvania (CAUSE-PA) filed an Answer and Petition to Intervene, the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (CWA) filed a Protest and Answer and Full Service Network (FSN) filed a Petition to Intervene. On October 21, 2014, the Pennsylvania Telephone Association (PTA) filed a Petition to Intervene and the Office of Small Business Advocate (OSBA) filed a Notice of Intervention, Verification, Public Statement and Notice of Appearance. On October 23, 2014, Verizon filed an Answer to AT&T’s Petition to Intervene.
The Initial Prehearing Conference convened on Thursday, October 23, 2014, as scheduled. During the Initial Prehearing Conference, various procedural matters were discussed. A Scheduling Order dated October 24, 2014 was issued memorializing the issues that were agreed to during the Initial Prehearing Conference. The parties were reminded that Commission policy promotes settlement. 52 Pa.Code § 5.231(a). The parties were encouraged to commence settlement discussions as early as possible.
Pursuant to the Scheduling Order, the evidentiary hearing was held in this matter on December 17, 2014. Briefs are now required to address unresolved issues. Therefore, the following Briefing Order is being issued:
ORDER
THEREFORE,
IT IS ORDERED:
1. That the parties shall file and serve Main Briefs on or before January 8, 2015, and Reply Briefs on or before January 16, 2015.
2. That the briefs must contain: (a)a concise statement or counter-statement of the case; (b) an argument, with sufficient citations to record evidence, preceded by a summary; (c) a conclusion with requested relief; (d) proposed Findings of Fact, together with page references to statements of testimony, the hearing transcript and exhibits; (e) proposed Conclusions of Law, together with legal citations and (f) proposed Ordering Paragraphs.
3. That the parties shall file the original copies of the Main Brief and Reply Brief with the Commission no later than 4:30 p.m. on the date due, addressed as follows:
Rosemary Chiavetta, Secretary
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
P.O. Box 3265
Harrisburg, Pa. 17105-3265
4. That, consistent with 52 Pa. Code §1.54, the parties shall serve one copy of the Main Brief on each other, the Presiding Officer and the Director of the Office of Special Assistants, in–hand no later than 4:30 p.m. on the date due and the Reply Brief no later than 2:00 p.m. on the date due. Parties may serve the brief via e-mail to meet this requirement, with hard copy to follow, sent to the addresses set forth on the attached service list and as follows:
Cheryl Walker Davis
Office of Special Assistants
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
P.O. Box 3265
Harrisburg, Pa. 17105-3265
Email:
Joel H. Cheskis
Administrative Law Judge
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
P.O. Box 3265
Harrisburg, Pa. 17105-3265
Email:
Additionally, electronic copies of the Main Brief and Reply Brief shall be emailed to the Office of Special Assistants at in Microsoft Word format.
5. That any brief not filed and served on or before the date set forth above will not be accepted except by special permission.
6. That the parties are required, within thirty (30) days after the final hearing, to either eFile with or provide to the Secretary’s Bureau a Compact Disc (CD) containing all testimony furnished to the court reporter during the proceeding, consistent with the Commission’s Implementation Order, dated January 10, 2013, at Docket No. M-2012-2331973.
7. That the parties are advised not to include any extra-record evidence in their briefs.
8. That if a brief contains a citation to an unreported decision which is not available on LEXIS or the Commission’s website, a copy of that unreported decision must be appended to the brief.
9. That the parties are directed to agree to a common briefing outline and submit the outline via email to the Presiding Officer no later than December 24, 2014.
10. That all briefs, testimony and other documents submitted in this proceeding are to be provided in Microsoft Word format.
Date: December 22, 2014
Joel H. Cheskis
Administrative Law Judge
2
P-2014-2446303 & P-2014-2446304 - Joint Petition of Verizon Pennsylvania LLC and Verizon North LLC for Competitive Classification of all Retail Services in Certain Geographic Areas, and for a Waiver of Regulations for Competitive Services
(Revised 10/30/14)
Suzan D. Pavia Esquire
1717 Arch Street, 3rd Floor
Philadelphia PA 19103
Representing Verizon
Accepts e-service
Barrett Sheridan, Esquire
Office of Consumer Advocate
555 Walnut Street 5th Floor
Harrisburg PA 17101-1923
Accepts e-service
Steven C Gray Esquire
Office of Small Business Advocate
300 N Second Street Suite 202
Harrisburg PA 17102
Michelle Painter
Painter Law Firm, PLLC
26022 Glasgow Drive
Chantilly VA 20152
Representing AT&T Communications of Pennsylvania, LLC
Accepts e-service
Scott J. Rubin, Esquire
333 Oak Lane
Bloomsburg PA 17815
Representing Communications Workers of America
Accepts e-service
CHArles thomas iii, Esquire
Thomas, Niesen & Thomas
212 Locust Street Suite 500
Harrisburg PA 17108-9500
Representing PTA
Accepts e-service
ELIZABETH R MARX ESQUIRE
118 LOCUST STREET
HARRISBURG PA 17101
Representing CAUSE – PA
Accepts E-service
DEANNE O’DELL
ECKERT SEAMANS CHERIN & MELLOTT LLC
213 MARKET STREET
8TH FLOOR
P O BOX 1248
HARRISBURG PA 17101
Representing Full Service Network LP
Accepts E-service